Archive for February, 2017

Most people I know are hurting in some way, spiritually, emotionally, physically, or in other ways. Life seems to be needlessly complex, and drains us of energy. We often do not feel like our work is of value to anybody, and getting rewarded for what we do is frequently inadequate and materialistic. People all over the country are losing their sense of community, withdrawing from society, becoming increasingly isolated.

Most of us are doing the jobs of three people, yet our pay is the same as it was 30 years ago, correcting for inflation. Wages should have grown as productivity increased, but the capitalists kept them low, choosing instead to pocket the increased revenues. These are the same people who decided to send jobs overseas so that they could increase their profit margins. Those decisions were made without regard for community, or society, and were driven by pure greed. Everyone was making decent money back in the 1970’s, but then thefts began. Retirement funds held by unions, Social Security, trusted companies, all were ripped off, or ripped us off. Social Security was the biggest heist in history, billions of dollars stolen from the fund that was supposed to pay out the benefits. Enron was responsible for thousands of elderly folks to lose their retirement savings, along with Tycho, General Motors, and several others.

Greed is driving the push for ever-greater profits, a lust for money beyond reason, a desire for money that cannot be satiated. People who believe that they are above having to work, because they have invested their wealth so that they can receive dividends. Their neighbors used to live on interest from their investments, but the banking world is upside down now, and banks don’t pay interest anymore. Banks are upside down because nobody is saving any money, like they used to. Who can afford it? A friend of mine said the other day that most of the people that she knows are one crisis away from losing everything, because they have no reserves left. Can’t use credit cards anymore, the interest is so high. If you can get one.

Only new hires, or teenagers, should be working for the minimum wage. People should be earning more, so that they are not struggling to survive. They should have the chance to do a good job, one that they can be proud of, rather than be forced to turn out shoddy merchandise or poor service. We all need to remember that we need community, feeling connected to each other, sharing with each other. These are things that government cannot make happen by passing laws or creating regulations. These are things that capitalists should be doing anyway, to protect their most valuable resource, people.

Probably the greatest danger we Americans face is not terrorists, nor is it a president who acts like a terrorist. Illegal immigrants are not the problem, unless they refuse to show up to build the Wal. I mean Wall. What is behind so much of the misery and despair right now is plain old Greed. Instead of being rewarded for the enormous contribution that they have made over the last 50 years, workers have seen wages stagnate, benefits shrink, and workloads skyrocket. The average wage should be about three times what it is right now, regardless of what the minimum wage is. Were wages this high, economic activity would be much greater, with more consumption of goods and services, as well as more people owning their homes.

President Trump, could you please talk to your multi-billionaire friends, and convince them to shake loose some of that money that they have so much of? It would really help, because there is enough wealth in the U.S. to buy everyone a house, a car, a college education, and healthcare for the rest of their lives. But it is locked up in the hands of a few, where it just sits, or is used to create even more wealth, by manipulating numbers instead of making actual work happen.

Raising the minimum wage will simply make it so that you can be broke with more money than ever before, because everything will get more expensive. Unless the greedy people agree to give up the massive profits that they are taking with no effort on their part. Sometimes, profits are so large that the owners could double the wages paid and still take home a tidy sum. A lot of the money is going to pay dividends, which is where people get paid for doing nothing. Lend a company money by buying their stock, and they pay you every year, even if they end up paying you more than you lent them. Isn’t that a nice system?

President Trump, do the unbelievable thing, get your wealthy friends to spend their money on the masses, instead of just letting it sit in banks. Talk them into paying for low-income housing, or public transportation, or music education, things that will raise the quality of life for everyone, and put people to work doing it. Remind them that the tax rate on the very wealthy used to be 95 percent. Today, it is closer to 30 percent. Without the wealthy voluntarily putting a portion of their wealth into the community, the community will die. And community is dying all across America. Help us, please!